During conventional dental maintenance and treatment procedures, dentists and dental technicians are required to perform tasks using a variety of instruments which must be readily available to the dentist. In an endodontic procedure, for example, dentists must have ready access to endodontic files which gauge the depth of root canals prepared in the patient's teeth. A dental assistant thus typically is employed to hold a file dispenser from which the dentist can withdraw fresh endodontic files, and into which he/she can place used instruments.
It also will be understood that most dental instruments require periodic servicing, often during performance of a procedure such as the endodontic procedure described above. Endodontic files, for example, commonly are used with depth markers placed at preselected positions along the file's shaft. Similarly, both files and other dental instruments may require periodic cleaning, removal of debris, or application of a medicament or other preparation. Again, this commonly is achieved by making a dental assistant available, the assistant generally being given the tedious task of holding a gauze sponge on which the instruments may be wiped, or holding a container which carries the medicament or other preparation.
The aforementioned arrangement, however, represents a waste of valuable time, the efforts of two professionals being used where the efforts of a single professional would suffice. One alternative has been to simply place the gauze sponge and paste on a tray where they may be accessed by the dentist or technician without the aid of an assistant. Not surprisingly, this arrangement also leads to a waste of time, the dentist or technician being required to pick up the gauze sponge or preparation each time an instrument is to be serviced. Another alternative involves the use of finger-mounted prophylactic paste holder units, but such units generally are single-purpose appliances which do nothing more than hold a medicament or the like. Furthermore, there is a risk associated with this practice, namely, the dental assistant risks being pierced by a file, potentially resulting in serious infection.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a more complete dental servicing system which may be mounted to a user's hand. More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a dental servicing system which may be worn without interfering with the wearer's ability to perform dental tasks. It is also an object of the invention to protect the wearer from possible injury due to contact with dental instruments, and to protect the instruments from possible contamination due to contact with the wearer.